


Lullaby

by alasondria



Category: Phantasy Star Online 2
Genre: F/M, Luthaly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 07:13:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15769182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alasondria/pseuds/alasondria
Summary: Luther was hiding something and whatever it was had shaken him to his very core.





	Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

> EP5-3 spoilers.

It was the night after they returned.

 

Luther remained quiet; reserved. He shrunk into himself and averted his gaze from his sister and his aide. So profoundly uncharacteristic was Luther's behavior that Alasondria found herself doubting that this was the same prince from the day's morn. When he spoke he did so in clipped sentences and did not give more than was necessary for the situation.

 

His tone was impassive but behind the stalwart wall he'd constructed, Alasondria saw the trepidation in his actions; heard the waver in his voice. Luther was hiding something and whatever it was had shaken him to his very core. When she ventured to inquire with Harriet, the young princess gave her brother's aide a faraway look and quirked her lips upward into a smile far too sad.

 

"If you'll listen, I will tell you." Harriet had said and to Alasondria she had seemed in that moment altogether wizened beyond her years. Alasondria promised her full attention despite the uneasy pool of dread burning in her gut.

 

Harriet spoke. The tale unravelled, the secrets kept hidden spilled forth like a tidal wave, shattering the brief pretense of the prince his aide had come to know. 

 

Alasondria retired to her room not more than a few bells before the sun fell and the moon rose. Her thoughts, disorganized as they were, raced around like fluttering mice, scurrying from one point to the next, never giving pause.

 

A knock sounded on her door, pulling her from her daze. Alasondria shrugged a robe on and padded over, her hand moving to grip the knob when the door opened abruptly, showing on the other side the placid expression of Luther. Alasondria stepped back, startled at the prince's sudden appearance.

 

"...Luther? Are you alright?"

 

He did not respond immediately, instead his gaze remained fixated ahead, passed Alasondria's shoulder and beyond the grand arched window that illuminated her room with the moonlight that flooded in.

 

"Luther?" She tried again, daring a light graze of her fingertips over the hand the prince had curled around the doorknob. He jerked away instinctively, his face appearing pained at first, then treacherously exhausted after he came to. His eyes fell on the visage of his concerned aide. Alasondria saw in them the frightened man that so desperately yearned for comfort. Though he remained silent, she discerned his cry for relief.

 

"Come here," Alasondria said, her voice low, and her touch no longer ghosted over Luther's hand. Instead, she slowly twined her fingers with his, loosened his digits around the doorknob, and guided his hand away.

 

Giving a gentle tug towards her bed, Alasondria lead Luther to the edge and murmured. "Rest yourself."

 

Though when it seemed his aide was about to leave him to settle in, his grip tightened around her hand and his face looked panicked, his fear captured in the pale light of the moon.

 

Alasondria was quick to surge into Luther's space and cup his cheeks, thumbs smoothing over his skin and idly tracing the dark circles under his eyes.

 

"I'm not going anywhere," she whispered. Luther bowed his head, pressing his face further into her touch.

 

"...You heard," Luther muttered.

 

"...I did."

 

"You must think I'm a monster," he began, his words terribly strained. "What I did... I was playing at being a god. Such arrogance... I..."

 

"You could not have foreseen what would happen."

 

"I killed my sister! I summoned that... thing! And Harriet sacrificed herself to protect  _ me, _ " he spat the last word, his lips curling back in utter disgust. "My failures do not stop at summoning magic. I failed as a prince. I failed as her older brother."

 

"You have not failed. Look at me, Luther," Alasondria braced a hand under his chin and forced his face up, his clouded eyes staring woefully into her electric gaze. "Mistakes happen to everyone. Big or small, they can still be righted. Harriet stands before us again, perhaps not the selfsame, but her memories, her heart, her  _ soul _ lives on."

 

Luther remained still for a moment. Then he moved, lethargic and heavy, towards his aide's bed. He foisted himself upon it, falling flat on his back and loosing a full-body sigh.

 

"I'm so tired, Alasondria," he said, voice watery. Alasondria climbed onto the bed to sit on her haunches next to the prince. She tucked his mussed hair behind his ear and swept the rest away from his forehead. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his temple, her lips lingering against his skin as she did. Luther exhaled low, a shaky breath escaping him, and reached up with a hesitant hand to skirt his fingers along Alasondria's cheek. She brought her hand up to meet his and threaded their fingers together.

 

"Rest," she murmured.

 

Luther closed his eyes for a moment, then drew them open slowly, his gaze falling on Alasondria.

 

"Stay with me," he offered.

 

Alasondria smiled down at him, fond and warm and it was everything Luther had needed to sail him through the howling tempest sweeping his body. She wasted no time settling herself in, scooting up to him and curling into his side. He turned over to face her, his mouth quirking upwards. As it always was, Luther could not fight the infectious way his aide's smiles cracked subtle grins out of him.

 

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and craned his neck to nose her hair.

 

"Thank you," Luther mumbled.

 

Alasondria reached up to cup Luther's face one more time, pulling him down to her eye level. He blinked once and then smiled, broadly—earnestly. Her eyes crinkled on a laugh and she closed the distance between them.


End file.
